Apple iPhone news

[jwinslow]

RedEye Makes Your iPhone a Universal Remote Control - Iphone universal remote redeye - Gizmodo

After months of private beta testing, ThinkFlood's RedEye goes on sale today. You control the dock using an iPhone app via Wi-Fi, and it sends out infrared signals to control your AV gear. At $188, it's not crazy expensive, either. I mean, the Logitech Harmony 900 costs $400, and even the Harmony 700 is $150.

And you can find harmony remotes on sale for $30-50 fairly often. Great idea, just way too expensive.

So it's $188 for every room you want to use it in?

The video ends with "what WILL it do next?!" Hopefully, come down in price. If this thing were priced for the App store - low prices, high volume - it would be the next fart app. They'd sell tons and be gazillionaires.

 

[jwinslow]

Top 5 Assclowns Laughing at the iPhone Back in 2007 - iPhone - Gizmodo

- Epic failures from these guys...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oGaZIKYvo]YouTube - Microsoft CEO Ballmer laughs at Apple iPhone[/ame]

The development of mobile phones will be similar in PCs. Even with the Mac, Apple has attracted much attention at first, but they have still remained a niche manufacturer. That will be in mobile phones as well.

I have a hard time believing that Nokia's chief strategist—aka this guy—actually said that last month. Wake up, Anssi, and smell the coffee, because you are being smashed. [AAPLinvestors via Fortune]

We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in.

There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get.

Is there a toaster that also knows how to brew coffee? There is no such combined device, because it would not make anything better than an individual toaster or coffee machine. It works the same way with the iPod, the digital camera or mobile phone: it is important to have specialized devices.

Exactly like the Palm Pre, Jon, which is a smartphone and a cheese slicer.

Apple should pull the plug on the iPhone… What Apple risks here is its reputation as a hot company that can do no wrong. If it's smart it will call the iPhone a ‘reference design' and pass it to some suckers to build with someone else's marketing budget. Then it can wash its hands of any marketplace failures… Otherwise I'd advise people to cover their eyes. You are not going to like what you'll see.

 

[MaxBuck]

Originally Posted by Jon Rubinstein, Palm CEO and former Apple Vice President, iPod Division, September 27, 2005
Is there a toaster that also knows how to brew coffee? There is no such combined device, because it would not make anything better than an individual toaster or coffee machine. It works the same way with the iPod, the digital camera or mobile phone: it is important to have specialized devices.

Exactly like the Palm Pre, Jon, which is a smartphone and a cheese slicer.

No, it's not. It's a cheese straightener. Deluxe model, too.

 

[jwinslow]

 

[MaxBuck]

RedEye Makes Your iPhone a Universal Remote Control - Iphone universal remote redeye - Gizmodo
And you can find harmony remotes on sale for $30-50 fairly often. Great idea, just way too expensive.

Given that WOW gave us a universal remote for each of our 4 cable boxes for no additional charge, I can't figure out why I'd want to pay even $35 for a stand-alone model, much less $150+ for a smartphone app.

 

[jwinslow]

Given that WOW gave us a universal remote for each of our 4 cable boxes for no additional charge, I can't figure out why I'd want to pay even $35 for a stand-alone model, much less $150+ for a smartphone app.

The value is for folks with a lot of other gadgets. DVD player, Audio receiver, HDMI switch, etc. It's not something an average consumer would need.

 

[jwinslow]

Too Much AT&T Fail - iPhone Apps - Gizmodo

Remember that Mark the Spot iPhone app for telling AT&T where they suck? Um, yeah.

Comments

To all of the people who have iPhones with great service, you're the lucky ones. Believe us... it's just that bad out there.

So not only can they not design a network, but they can't design software or a database that can properly keep track of their suckage?

Meanwhile, at AT&T Marketing division...

See? No one has reported any missing service or dropped calls, our service is obviously superior to Verizon. Quick, make a commercial about it.

 

[jwinslow]

Apple Stole Lala From Google, and Things Are Just Getting Ugly - Apple - Gizmodo

So, reason Apple paid $85 million for Lala is because they were stealing it from Google. Which is like payback, because Google stole Admob from Apple, and oh, lordee is this fight gruesome.

The WSJ uses Apple's purchase of streaming music service Lala, swooping in to pry it out of Google hands, as a way to tell the tale of two humpbacked giants clashing in a conflict that's been going on since earlier this summer, first marked—publicly anyway—by Apple's high-profile non-rejection rejection of Google Voice from the App Store.


More recently, Apple tried to buy AdMob—one of the dominant players in mobile advertising—not only to make more money off of iPhone apps, but to keep Google from buying them. Interestingly, the WSJ says Apple "has been exploring buying iPhone-related technologies that it doesn't yet have," meaning we could be seeing more Apple acquisitions soon, or perhaps more bloody bouts of Apple and Google wrestling over companies, especially since Google wants into music, and Apple wants into mobile ads, according to the WSJ.


The other interesting bit the WSJ drops is that "Google is also talking to handset manufacturers about building phones with more prominent Google branding and more preinstalled Google applications," which sounds sorta kinda like a Google phone.


Cont'd

 

[jwinslow]

Apple Stole Lala From Google, and Things Are Just Getting Ugly - Apple - Gizmodo

So, reason Apple paid $85 million for Lala is because they were stealing it from Google. Which is like payback, because Google stole Admob from Apple, and oh, lordee is this fight gruesome.

The WSJ uses Apple's purchase of streaming music service Lala, swooping in to pry it out of Google hands, as a way to tell the tale of two humpbacked giants clashing in a conflict that's been going on since earlier this summer, first marked?publicly anyway?by Apple's high-profile non-rejection rejection of Google Voice from the App Store.


More recently, Apple tried to buy AdMob?one of the dominant players in mobile advertising?not only to make more money off of iPhone apps, but to keep Google from buying them. Interestingly, the WSJ says Apple "has been exploring buying iPhone-related technologies that it doesn't yet have," meaning we could be seeing more Apple acquisitions soon, or perhaps more bloody bouts of Apple and Google wrestling over companies, especially since Google wants into music, and Apple wants into mobile ads, according to the WSJ.


The other interesting bit the WSJ drops is that "Google is also talking to handset manufacturers about building phones with more prominent Google branding and more preinstalled Google applications," which sounds sorta kinda like a Google phone.


Cont'd

 

[Dryden]

Anyone buy the RedLaser app for iPhone yet? I saw this today ranked at #2 in the iPhone store of Top 25 paid apps and decided to give it a whirl for only $1.99.

It's a barcode scanner that uses the iPhone's built-in camera to capture a barcode, then searches online for prices. After downloading RedLaser this afternoon I wound up spending 15 minutes running around my kitchen scanning random things out of the pantry and my liquor cabinet. Surprisingly, this app identified everything I threw at it with 100% accuracy, though barcodes on small round objects like soup cans require a super-steady hand. It does allow for manual entry of barcode digits if the optical recognition doesn't work.

I suppose if you use this to put one Christmas present back on a shelf while shopping at a brick and mortar store and opt for shopping at one of the suggested online stores instead, it pays for itself. If you use this to get a price match on a high end TV at Best Buy (some reviewers claim to have done this), it pays for the iPhone too.

This app is 'effing genius, and it captures and returns results super quick. Hopefully they get a comprehensive list of stores on board in the future. Heck, I already found it handy just to make my grocery lists. Finish up a carton of OJ? Scan it before you toss it in the trash or recycling bin, then it's in your scan history for when you go shopping next time!

Attached a sample of what this does below

 

[jwinslow]

Is this an older app? I remember something like this from awhile back, not sure if it was the iphone or something else (pre maybe?).

 

[Dryden]

This particular app has been around for awhile, but real-time scanning off a live camera stream is a newer feature from earlier this year. Previous versions required first taking a still photo, and alternatives to this software I've read reviews for from other cameras & apps don't read the barcode, but instead OCR the numbers below the barcode, so they're not as accurate and are obviously rendered useless if you clumsily cover one of the digits with your thumb or a shadow from the phone while trying to scan something. In any event, I've not seen a true competing product that can read the barcode off a 1D stream like this, this fast.

There's a YouTube vid demonstrating how quick the software works, and I'd say it's a pretty accurate representation of my use so far, though I'm not going to be walking around a SafCo looking to save 29 cents on a box of chewy granola bars.

For bigger ticket general goods & items like appliances, clothing, toys and games, etc ... this app is incredibly handy. Again, as the search technology on the back-end grows, this could potentially save a person hundreds of dollars per year. Right now I'd classify the app as borderline between novelty and useful, but it's clearly very powerful. When this can pull up the price of a toaster at a nearby WalMart, Meijer, Lowes, and Target off the GPS, then it'll really be something.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_hFGsmx_6k]YouTube - RedLaser 2.0: Realtime iPhone UPC barcode scanning[/ame]

 

[jwinslow]

Thanks. Very cool indeed.

 

[IronBuckI]

ABC News

'Operation Chokehold': Fake Steve Jobs Rallies iPhone Users to Cripple AT&T Network


FCC Calls Protest 'Irresponsible,' Warns Against Crashing AT&T When People Need It

It may have started as a joke, but now a stunt urging iPhone users to take down AT&T's wireless network has drawn the attention of federal regulators -- who condemn the digital protest as "irresponsible."

On Monday, Newsweek reporter Daniel Lyons, who writes the popular blog, "The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs," posted a satirical memo encouraging iPhone owners to participate in "Operation Chokehold."

Writing as "Fake Steve," he told iPhone users to voice their dissatisfaction with the performance of AT&T's wireless network by running the phone's most data-intensive applications at the same time -- 3 p.m. ET Friday. That, he said, would "overwhelm the AT&T data network and bring it to its knees."
"Send the message to AT&T that we are sick of their substandard network and sick of their abusive comments," Lyons wrote. "The idea is we'll create a digital flash mob."

 

[jwinslow]

http://gizmodo.com/5431381/atts-warped-view-of-the-internet

Did you know? Unless you have a 3Mbps internet connection, you can't use Facebook. Without 12Mbps internet, you can't even email files! And just forget streaming video without at least 18Mbps internet. Welcome to the internet, according to AT&T.